I am part of a wonderfully diverse movement of people of all ages, ethnicities, races, faiths, and political backgrounds.

We are secular and religious; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and many other; of all ages, economic classes, and political backgrounds; we are united by a commitment to justice and truth, opposition to bigotry, and determination to end the violence and oppression against Palestinians and others that generates war and profound tragedy throughout the Middle East and far beyond.

Please note:

For my main articles and the most important information, please go to the If Americans Knew website. Also, we post a great deal of information on our Facebook page. In addition to those, however, now and then I like to tell people about behind-the-scenes happenings, random information that I've stumbled across but not written an article about, etc. and so I place these on this blog.

I am NOT the British historian

As I write above, I am not the author of books about British history. That Alison Weir, who is English, tells me that she is receiving harrassment and threats because some people mix her up with me. These are causing her extreme concern and forcing her to end her book tours in the U.S. PLEASE, ISRAEL PARTISANS, LEAVE HER ALONE. If you must threaten to kill someone because you wish facts about Israel-Palestine to remain hidden, I'm the one you mean.

Wikipeda distortions

Everyone should be aware that Wikipedia can be edited by anonymous individuals who may or may not have a political agenda. Since Israel partisans work to dominate Wikipedia entries regarding Israel, the information on Wikipedia may be skewed. Please see "A pro-Israel group's plan to rewrite history on Wikipedia" for more on this type of thing.

My Book...

"Prodigiously documented... Alison Weir must be highly commended for throwing such a brilliantly hard light on the relationship between the United States and Israel. I hope this marvelous book gets all the attention it deserves." – Ambassador Andrew Killgore, Publisher, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

"This provocative book documents a history that is essential in understanding today's world. Scholarly, yet readable, it is a must for all Americans." – Senator James Abourezk, CounterPunch

Of Particular Note...

Why?

Daily news, commentary, and analysis

History

Attack on the USS Liberty

Rachel Corrie

Nonviolence Movement of Palestinians and Israelis

My articles (Go to this link and scroll down to see all my articles on Israel-Palestine)

Previous blogs

We used to have daily news site featuring a diverse compendium of reports on Israel-palestine, focusing largely on news that is unreported or under-reported by US media. Now, however, this information is on the If Americans Knew website. We also had a site containing daily commentary and analysis, and another blog that periodically deconstructs AP coverage on Israel-Palestine. However, we haven't had the time to update these in recent years.

Attack on The USS Liberty

Because so few people know about Israel's extremely ruthless attack on the US Navy ship, the USS Liberty, I'd like to alert you to that as well. This is a profoundly important topic. The crew members, who are still waiting for justice, have waged a heroic (but to date unsuccessful) campaign to bring this attack before the American people.

One of the most important articles is the report by the independent commission chaired by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer (among its illustrious panel members was Marine General Ray Davis, the nation's highest-ranking Medal of Honor recipient at the time). This report provides evidence that the facts on this attack were covered up at the order of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Normally, such evidence -- from such a distinguished body -- would result in Congressional hearings.

In this case, the media buried it -- even the Washington Post failed to report on this historic event on Capitol Hill. While AP had an excellent news report on the panel's briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building, this highly newsworthy story, which should have been headlined around the country, was buried in its wire offerings of the day and very few news media picked it up or gave it the prominence it deserved.

The crew has supplied a detailed legal brief on the this incident to the Secretary of the Army, the agency required by law to investigate war crimes against American citizens. Again, this has not been reported to the American public.

Such neglect by the American media is unconscionable.

Rachel Corrie

While growing numbers of people are deeply saddened at Rachel Corrie's death, numerous people throughout the US know little or nothing about it. In addition, as with the USS Liberty, there has been a concerted effort to falsify the circumstances and to blame the victim. We have done our best to supply thorough information on this tragedy.

Nonviolence Movement of Palestinians and Israelis

In addition to a vigorous Palestinian nonviolence movement, there are growing numbers of Israeli groups also working toward peace. These Palestinian and Israeli peace workers and human rights advocates deserve to have their principled and often courageous activities reported to Americans, yet this rarely occurs. (See our AP report for evidence.) We report on these in our list of the wide variety of groups working toward peace and justice.

Bill Weinberg, a New York journalist who appears very conflicted on Israel, periodically makes false statements about me (and others), so I thought I'd post a letter to the editor I wrote to the Village Voice in response to one of his diatribes:

To The Editor:

Re “Standing up for Gaza but not with certain groups” (talking point, by Bill Weinberg, Aug. 28):

I recently learned that Bill Weinberg listed our organization first among allegedly impure groups with which Mr. Weinberg would not deign to stand, despite his proclaimed love for the Palestinian cause.

I wondered what evidence he had provided for our dastardly designation.

Was it because I traveled throughout Gaza and the West Bank as a freelance reporter in 2001, discovered the carnage, and began an organization called If Americans Knew to give people the facts?

Did he dislike our designer’s infographics about Gaza, reaching millions — our Web master’s creation, considered one of the top sites on Palestine?

Did he dislike my recent book on the history of the Israel lobby with its almost 8,000 sales?

No, none of this is mentioned. Mr. Weinberg’s “evidence” consisted of two items. The first was an extraordinarily creative (and erroneous) Sherlock Holmes-like deduction: “It is obvious from its name that this is basically a right-wing nationalist formation with (at least) an anti-Semitic streak.”

The second was an equally creative (and erroneous) description of an alleged If Americans Knew flier that contained, he wrote, “a big quote from Gilad Atzmon,” an Israeli author who apparently causes Mr. Weinberg such anguish that when he heard Atzmon praised, “[a] wave of existential loneliness swept over me.”

The problem is that there is no such If Americans Knew flier.

Poor Mr. Weinberg, in his agony over those not marching to his own, highly flawed tune, simply got things wrong.

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I believe in the free marketplace of ideas and sometimes post articles by other individuals and organizations when I feel they contain information or analyses that could be interesting for people to read and ponder. Such posting does not necessarily denote agreement with the article and does not necessarily denote agreement or endorsement of the author and other articles he or she may have written in the past or may write in the future.